Ali's daughter follows father's footsteps

LOS ANGELES (AP) - She has yet to throw a professional punch. She doesn't have a promoter. She has no proven skills.

And yet, she is drawing attention in the fledgling world of women's boxing because of her last name: Ali.

Laila Ali, the youngest of Muhammad Ali's nine children, is working out daily and might be ready for her first pro fight this summer.

The 21-year-old approached her father late last month to inform him she planned to follow in his footsteps.

"Well, Daddy," she said, according to The New York Times, "I want to tell you I'm going into professional boxing, and I love you, and I want your support, and I want to tell you that even if I don't have your support, I'm going to do it anyway."

That's probably something Ali might said before he began his brilliant career as Cassius Clay in the late 1950s.

The former heavyweight champion, who is weakened by Parkinson's Syndrome at least in part because of boxing, told his daughter he didn't want her to get hurt.

"Daddy, I'm not going to get hurt," she replied. "I'm going to be fighting women, not men. And I have your genetics."

So far, the 5-foot-10, 160-pounder has only sparred with her trainer, Kevin Morgan.

"She's very much like her dad, she's aggressive, very sure of herself, very confident," NormaLynn Cutler, Laila's publicist, told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "She also has an offbeat sense of humor like her father.

"She's extremely charming, and if I had to use one word, I'd say focused or determined, one word or the other."

Cutler said Laila will probably fight for the first time in August and is getting tips from her famed father.

"She won't tell anyone, including me, what they are," Cutler said. "She says, `When I have the greatest boxer of all time as my mentor, why would I want to share the secrets he's given me?' "

Cutler said she's known Laila for about three years.

"She was working in the beauty industry, and I happened to use her services," Cutler said. "She believes she's going to be a champion and change the face of female boxing.

"For one thing, she is extremely beautiful, not that there aren't beautiful boxers."

Laila never saw her father box in person, and told the Times she had few memories of living with him. But by boxing, she believes he will gain a greater appreciation for her as his child.

"He's naturally going to see himself in me," said Laila, who with her sister, Hana, grew up in Malibu with her mother, Veronica, who was Ali's third wife. "But for the first time, I think he actually can see that `this is my child.' "

Lonnie Ali, Ali's current wife, told the Times her husband had no comment on Laila's career choice.

"Don't read anything into that," Lonnie Ali said. "This is something Laila wants to do. It has nothing to do with Muhammad."

Laila said that while her father was alarmed about her direction, he was still on her side.

"He told me that it was a dirty business," she said. "He let me know it's a hard business, and he let me know that he supported me."